Rule 1. First Things First….Have You Decluttered?
Trying to organise before you de-clutter is a common mistake. It’s a sure fire way to use up your precious storage on things you dont actually need.
Client Experience: Kathy had 10 large glass vases and wanted to buy an enormous plastic container and bubble wrap to store them in. Large plastic boxes are about £60.00 but the value of the vases was only about £25.00. Once filled with the 10 vases and bubble wrap the boxand way to heavy for her to lift ot move and too big to store anywhere except the garage (which was already too full for her car). Action Plan: After discussing the pros and cons of each vase, Kathy decided to keep 4. Rather than find a place to store them all, we decided that three could be kept out and on display. One for fresh flowers in the living room, we filled another with some shells she had collected on her last vacation and put it on display in the hall. The third was the perfect size to hold some lovely linen napkins and went on display on the dining table. The last one was stored under the sink.
Rule 2. Store Items Based on How Often they are Used.
Ironing Boards, Vacuum Cleaners, Floor Steamers can pose a problem, especially if you dont have much storage. It’s often tempting to shove them to the back of a large cupboard and put all the smaller things in front and around them. BUT Please – resist the temptation to do this. If you have to move 4 or 5 boxes or other random items to get to the vacuum cleaner, then you would also have to put 4 or 5 boxes and a bunch of random items away again. This is a recipe for Disaster and is sure to undo all your careful organisational planning in no time at all!
Client Experience: Susan had made a start at getting organised when she called me but had run out of steam. One of the first jobs she did was to organise the cupboard under the stairs. She had pushed the vacuum to the back stacked 6 brand new lovely decorative storage boxes in front of it (these held a mix of house hold and personal items). It looked good but it wasn’t practical. She couldn’t get the things she needed and her beautiful storage boxes were hidden away in a cupboard. Action Plan: We changed the boxes to cheaper more durable ones and stacked them behind the vacuum, organised in order of use. Rarely used ones at the bottom and occasionally used ones at the top (frequently used items have no business being stored behind anything!) We used 3 of the pretty boxes for storing all her precious momentos and letters on top of her closets, and the other 3 for storing cocktail dresses* that she rarely wore but took up a lot of room in her closet. These boxes were put in the spare room on top of the closet.
*Not all dresses need to be hung ……. See my blog on ‘Storing Clothes’ coming soon.
Clutter Free & Organised 